Randle Reef

[SteelTown]

'Solid leadership' sought
Two MPs ask feds for help with Randle Reef cleanup

February 27, 2010
Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/729409

Hamilton's two Conservative Members of Parliament are asking federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice to find new leadership for the cleanup of toxic coal-tar-contaminated sediment on Randle Reef.

The Hamilton Port Authority has backed out of managing the project, now estimated to cost $105 million, and Mayor Fred Eisenberger has said efforts are focused on convincing Public Works Canada to take over.

It's a significant issue because it's Canada's second-worst case of coal tar pollution and must be fixed before Hamilton Harbour can be removed from a list of toxic hot spots on the Great Lakes.

David Sweet, MP for the riding of Ancaster Dundas Flamborough Aldershot, told The Spectator this week that he and Niagara West-Glanbrook MP Dean Allison have written Prentice, whose department is conducting an environmental assessment of the remediation plan.

Sweet said, "We have asked that he (Prentice) look into it personally and try and re-establish leadership in the project now that the port authority is not going to do it."

He said he and Allison chose not to identify a department, such as Public Works, but instead just to say to the minister whose department pledged $30 million for the work three years ago, "Let's establish some leadership, solid leadership."

Frederic Baril, an aide to Prentice, confirmed that the letter was received Tuesday and said, "We are working on a response, however, you understand that I won't speculate on the content of this response before we reply to the MPs."

Jim Hudson, executive director of the Bay Area Restoration Council (BARC), applauded the MPs for trying to get the stalled project moving.

BARC president Debra McBride recently issued a statement saying the organization was disappointed by the lack of progress. She called on the mayor and port authority to sort out the management issue and the matter of finding $30 million or more to match contributions promised by the federal and provincial governments.

She complained that not one cent of the local share had been publicly announced.

The port authority has since said it would put up $6 million, and Eisenberger said the city put $2 million in its capital budget last year and will add $3 million this year. Finance staff say a portion will come from provincial infrastructure grants rather than city ratepayers. The rest will be borrowed.

The proposed cleanup involves building a steel-walled containment facility around the heaviest coal tar deposits, then dredging less-contaminated sediment and adding it to the facility, topping it with clean fill and creating two piers for the port authority.

[thistleclub]

Toxic cleanup bill keeps rising
City asked for another $3 million

Eric McGuinness
The Hamilton Spectator
(Apr 19, 2010)

Hamilton city council is being asked to put up $3 million more toward the cleanup of Randle Reef -- bringing its contribution to $8 million -- but only if Burlington and Halton Region together ante up $4 million.

Staff say the extra is needed to get to the $30-million minimum local share demanded by the federal and provincial governments, which promised $30 million each when the projected total cost of the harbour project was $90 million.

Jim Harnum, the city's senior director of environment and sustainable infrastructure, says the estimated cost is now up to $105 million and the two senior levels of government are being asked to make up the difference, but they insist community sources still raise at least $30 million.

Randle Reef is a shallow area near U.S. Steel's Hamilton Works, heavily contaminated with toxic coal tar. The cleanup plan involves building a containment structure around the worst sediment, then adding less-contaminated mud from other areas of the harbour and capping it to create a shipping pier.

The work must be done to stop the contamination from spreading and to help get the harbour off the International Joint Commission's list of Great Lakes toxic hot spots.

In a report to go to city council's public works committee today, Harnum says commitments so far include the city's $5 million, $6 million from the Hamilton Port Authority and $7 million from U.S. Steel, for a total of $18 million

The U. S. Steel money would fulfil a commitment made by Stelco Inc. before being bought by the American company. The size of its pledge has not previously been disclosed.

City officials are using a bookkeeping tactic to inflate the local share to $23 million.

They say steel piling that would have cost $12 million at peak prices can now be bought for about $7 million.

They count the $5-million saving as part of the local commitment. With $3 million more from Hamilton and $4 million from Halton, the total comes to $30 million.

Harnum proposes the city takes its extra $3 million from the water and sewer rate budget rather than from property tax revenue.

He said federal and provincial officials are not asking Hamilton to increase its share.

"They said to us, 'You must raise at least the $30 million to which you committed. We can work with that.'"

He said: "The key is to get it going before our share rises to $38 million or $40 million. We have another 10 years to raise funds while the work goes on, but let's get started."

Harnum also said he expects Environment Canada to fill a leadership vacuum created when the port authority backed out.

Hamilton's two Conservative MPs wrote Environment Minister Jim Prentice earlier this year asking the federal government to step in, and Harnum says Environment Canada staff are now asking to be put in charge.